Twist your tongue with these twisters on International Tongue Twisters Day

Doha, Qatar: The second Sunday of November each year is marked as International Tongue Twister Day, celebrated in recognition of the first published tongue twister from Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation by John Harris in 1813.

Over the years, tricky phrases have existed as a form of amusement, vocal play and some are ingrained in oral traditions and folklores.

Which tongue twister is the most difficult?

Tongue twisters are universal and common in languages other than English too. Every culture and language has twisters based on their pronunciation and diction.

Languages such as Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Latin, and Mandarin Chinese have various examples of tongue twisters.

Tongue twisters are referred to as “trabalenguas” in Spanish, with the literal meaning “tongue jammer”. They are known as “virelangue” tongue twist in French and “Zungenbrecher” tongue breaker in German.

In the English language, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the toughest tongue twister is: "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick”
So loosen up your tongue and give it a twist today by trying these tongue twisters:

1. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?She sees cheese.
2. Chop shops stock chops.
3. If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
4. Seventy-seven benevolent elephants
5. A loyal warrior will rarely worry why we rule.
6. There was a minimum of cinnamon in the aluminum pan.
7. How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
8. A pessimistic pest exists amidst us.
9. Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.
10. She sells seashells by the seashore.

Looking for tougher ones? Here are a few other popular tongue twisters in languages from across the world.

A note of caution: while this writer has provided English translations, the fun lies in saying them in their original languages only.

Arabic: Khait Harir Ala Hait Um Khalil (translation: Silk thread on Um Khalil's wall), Lira wara Lira (Lira after Lira)

German: Fischers Fritze fischt frische Fische; frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritze (Fisherman Fritz fishes fresh fish; fresh fish fishes Fisherman Fritz).

French: Les chaussettes de l’archi-duchesse, sont-elles sèches ou archi-sèches? (Are the archduchess’s socks dry or extra dry?)

Tagalog: Kakakanan lang sa kangkungan sa may kakahuyan si Ken Ken habang kumakain ng kakaibang kakanin kahapon (Yesterday, Ken Ken just turned right at the swamp near the woods while eating a unique rice cake).

Hindi: Nadi ke kinare kirane ki dukan. (A general store on the riverbank)

Malayalam: Maashe maashe maashinte mon maashine maashe ennu vilicchaal maashinu moshamalle maashe? (Is it not bad for the teacher if teacher’s son calls teacher as teacher?)

Bengali: Pakhi paka pepe khay (Birds eat ripe papayas)

Yoruba: Bísí bá bàbá bo bàtà (Bisi helped father remove his shoes)

How many of these did you try? Let us know if you managed to twist them the right way!